Reference no: EM132180841

Southwest Airlines can most benefit from the market penetration strategy by increasing their footprint across the globe. This means opening up destinations to Europe and possibly other areas. This could also include absorbing smaller airline companies in these areas so that Southwest does not have to compete with other low-cost airliners that already have a loyal customer base. Since Southwest has been around for some time and built a reputable and profitable company, this strategy seems to be a good choice. Many companies start out very small and a simple organizational design works until growth is encountered. Southwest could greatly benefit from a multidivisional structure because they are a large corporation with a high paced operational tempo going on daily. Everyday airplanes are in the air because people rely heavily on air travel for many purposes. For this reason, Southwest must use a multidivisional organizational design to remain efficient. Some benefits of a multidivisional organizational design include, being able to meet customer needs, quick reaction to changing circumstances, and providing consistency across divisions in a business that provides many different products or services different geographical areas (Saylor Foundation, 2014, p. 288-289). Southwest has been a company that strives to meet customer needs and in the airline industry, being reactive to changing conditions is paramount to customer satisfaction. Airplanes will break for maintenance or poor weather causes delays and an organization that is structured to react quickly will be able handle these situations. An important aspect to growing globally is the element of consistency throughout departments because of the space in between. One downfall of a multidivisional organizational design is the fact that they are more expensive than a functional design (Saylor Foundation, 2014, p. 289). If Southwest does move operations to Europe, having a marketing department with personnel familiar with the market will be beneficial versus an overall over arcing marketing department with less experience for example.

Learning Activity #2

Management is a major reason that a business strategy can fail. Management has to ensure the right leadership is in place that champions the strategic direction and keeps the plan on track (Aileron, 2011). If Southwest is to expand operations to Europe and other global regions, they must have the right leadership in place. Good leadership can motivate people and even make impromptu changes to the plan that is tailored for each unique situation. Strategy is also a thing of action that involves specific people to carry out the plan (Merchant, 2008). Management roles are important that the plan is put to action and they can see from their perspective whether the plan is playing out properly. Additionally, if a leader does not believe in the strategic direction that a company is going, it could negatively affect its success. People can be influenced by ground-level leadership making it very important to have the right person in charge. No plan is perfect either and good leadership can make or foresee changes that need to be made to make the strategic direction more successful.

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